September… Silence, Light & Hope (part 2)

Light… The visual reverberations jolting us awake… awake to life again. This time… the contrasts – louder… darker. As much as we long to return to our naiveté, we both strain and squint… the presence… an absence.

“You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find darkness is required. The stars neither require it nor demand it.”

Annie Dillard Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

So much surrounding Jamie’s death etched a surreal inking on my soul. Such vitality… secreting volume… volleying sense of violence, vice and sacred virtue. However, as much as I remember… vivid pockets stole away from me. I remember so many random details from our drive from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Denver, Colorado for the funeral… memorial service… whatever you call it. But, on the way home… even the leaving, I don’t remember anything.

Maybe the heavy veil shrouds darker etchings of loss as mourning maneuvers -however unwelcome or unready we may be- back to the mundane routine… that is forever changed. That proverbial “new normal.” Routines do help some. I certainly won’t argue against that, but when are we grievers ready for routine?

I remember returning to familiar territory. My large high school. Academics. Dance team. Church youth group. I remember hearing caddy chatter all around me… signs of life-taken-for-granted… I remember trying to study & reason through my studies. Suddenly, for the first time… this type A driven student wondered if any of it was really relevant, really worth on ounce of time and cognition.

“He discoverth deep things out of darkness, and bringth out to light the shadows of death.” Job 12:22 KJV

Yet even in this space… what I do remember… is Light. I remember morning sunrises. Sunrays cutting through trees as I ran to escape the quiet clatter clinched in my head. I remember music, movement, and nature beckoning… daring me to dance within the contrasts.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

How profoundly generous and personal!

“When tragedy makes its unwelcome appearance and we are deaf to everything but the shriek of our own agony, when courage flies out the window and the world seems to be a hostile menacing place, it is the hour of our Gethsemane. No word, however sincere, offers any comfort or consolation. The night is bad. Our minds are numb, our hearts vacant, our nerves shattered. How will we make it through the night? The God of our lonely journey is silent.

And yet, it may happen in these most desperate trials of our human existence that beyond rational explanation, we may feel a nail-scarred hand clutching ours… We make it through the night and darkness gives way to the light of morning. The tragedy radically alters the direction of our lives, but in our vulnerability and defenselessness we experience the power of Jesus in His present risenness.”

Brennan Manning Abba’s Child pg. 105-106

Seriously… I had never sensed death’s nearness like this. Have you seen the movie, “Meet Joe Black” starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins? Similar nearness; however, much darker realness. I remember feeling so tired. I wanted to sleep innocently again. What do I mean by innocently? I mean… I wanted to dream in the light again. My dreams dripped with shadows, groans, crowds & utter isolation.

“If the night is bad and our nerves are shattered and darkness comes and pain is all around and the Holy One is conspicuous by his absence and we want to know the true feelings of the inscrutable God toward us, we must turn and look at Jesus.”

Brennan Manning Ruthless Trust pg. 91

I longed for it all to make sense. I felt the clash, but longed for harmonious synergy… oh to find the poise to live, to walk, to dance, to see… and to sing again. But where is the rest? Where are the words?

Interestingly, a couple songs surface… First, one we sang at Jamie’s funeral… also a summer camp anthem of my childhood:

It only takes a spark to get a fire going, And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing; That’s how it is with God’s Love, Once you’ve experienced it, Your spread the love to everyone You want to pass it on.

What a wondrous time is spring, When all the tress are budding The birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming; That’s how it is with God’s love, Once you’ve experienced it. You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring, You want to pass it on.

I wish for you my friend This happiness that I’ve found; You can depend on God It matters not where you’re bound, I’ll shout it from the mountain top – PRAISE GOD! I want the world to know The Lord of love has come to me I want to pass it on.

I’ll shout it from the mountain top – PRAISE GOD! I want the world to know The Lord of love has come to me I want to pass it on.

Pass It On written by Kurt Kaiser

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

Please be clear… I struggled, wrestled… with this “new normal” largely because I wanted the Light back…alone. Set apart. Not the Light framed by darkness. Yes, the Light may have been dimmer without the contrast, but I wanted an “either/or.”

My journey… led me to accept the “both/and” aspect of Life & Light. A tension I don’t pretend to fully comprehend- even still. But the mere warmth … of the Light … stirs my soul. “The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.” Psalm 118: 27

The brilliant power and faithfulness of an all-powerful Creator, who is simultaneously mighty and tender, grants us dawn and dusk every day – illuminating the abounding contrasts. Yet, how many times in our darkness & disappointments do we slip into slumping postures and sleeping habits that block out the wonder & fragility of the days we breathe? While we think we yearn for the Light, we nest into the dank and desolate.

In this space… the tension tight, contrast steady…prayer & praise became more than a whimsical wish list or shallow gratitude journal.

“Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,you who lead Joseph like a flock.You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,shine forthbefore Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.Awaken your might;come and save us.

Restore us, O God;make your face shine on us,that we may be saved.”

Psalm 80:1-3

Slowly, tenderly… mightily He warmed & relaxed my soul with wonder in His world & His Word … breathing Light & Life… even into my pen. “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” II Timothy 4:17

This “new normal” includes a persistent awareness … dark & light. silence & sound. death & life… with prevailing Hope. “The darker the night, the brighter the stars. The deeper the grief, the closer is God.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky Crime and Punishment